Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I finally got my ball pythons rid of their respiratory infections!!! So I had them on paper towels substrate (so it was nice, easy, clean) and now I'm ready to switch them out to something that will make them feel more "at home". So any opinions on what substrate doesn't carry mites, isn't too messy, and doesn't grow bacteria? I thought about using Forest Floor bedding which is pretty much cypress mulch. Does anyone use this? Any opinions will help. Thanks

"and now I'm ready to switch them out to something that will make them feel more "at home"."

If you want to make your balls feel more at "home" (assuming they were plucked off the ground of Africa) use dirt. If they were CH or CBB then they have no idea what their ancestors had as ground bedding so paper towels are fine.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

LOL! That's a good point. He is not Wild Caught! But anyways, you think Cypress Mulch is good? Because I feel like paper towels he feels too exposed (even if I do have hide boxes).

If your worried about mites cypress is NOT the way to go. I use aspen and only mist when I see them going into shed so not to over moisten aspen because it molds easily. But the downside to aspen is if you dont cathc them for some reason then you get some horrible shedding problems.
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

So any opinions on what substrate doesn't carry mites, isn't too messy, and doesn't grow bacteria? I thought about using Forest Floor bedding which is pretty much cypress mulch. Does anyone use this? Any opinions will help.

Giving your criteria for a new substrate..best thing to do is stick with paper or paper towel. If you feel your snake thinks he is exposed...add more hides.
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PHLdyPayne

Recycle your newspaper...cheap, easy to clean and offers another hide because mine do underneath it. Hope this helps

Cypress mulch will work fine.

I've tried nearly every type of substrate (except "cage carpet" it never appealed to me). Currently, I am using my own "blend" of various substrates. It is a little more expensive but keeps my humidity perfect (my house is usually drier than I'd like and humidity can be difficult to get right, even in racks).

Currently, I am using Douglas Fir Bark, Cypress mulch and those Coco fiber bricks. I blend this all in a 2:2:1 ratio and have excellent results. The cypress and fir bark are approximately the same size "chips" and the coco fiber helps lock in the humidity.

Aspen is also a good alternative, but I don't care for the "hamster" smell (sorry, that's just what it reminds me of). Shipping paper (check out WalMart or Target or any store that has an office supply section) is cheap, clean and fairly easy to work with. It holds up better than paper towels and won't stain your snake's belly like newspaper. It costs about $2-$4 for a large roll and can easily be cut to size.

We use unprinted newspaper for all of our snakes. We have used it for over 6 years and never had a problem. Our snakes are all happy and it makes cleaning easier in my opinion.
Kim
N.A.R.C

What do you guys think? I've decided to use Sani Chips. Don't worry about ingestion, I feed him in a separate box.